a girl that wanted to grow up so fast

if you don't know already, this is alyssa, my five year old girl who is not growing as fast as she would like it to be. she can be very pampered and very independent at the same times that nowadays it is normally pointless to keep asking her to stick around with us in hypermarkets. she would just roam around on her own and somehow will find us after several aisles. i know all those responsible parents out there would say that it is a dangerous thing to let a five year old girl wander around on her own but bear in mind that we are also trying to minimise that as much as we can, but most of the time in vain.



as the title suggests, this entry is one of those instances. yesterday, on friday, driving back from work (with the children that i picked up from their respective child care and elementary school), she spent the whole 40 minutes trying to convince me that she is old enough to go to her kum0n on her own. her ideals would be that i just dropped her off at the parking spot and she would cross the roads, walks among the diners on the ground floor restaurants in the shop lots and walk up the stairs, all on her own without me accompanying her.



she came up with all kind of excuses like we were slightly late, multiple assurances that she will watch out for the oncoming traffic when she crosses the roads, it' too troublesome to bring amelya together to kum0n and she has grown up because she has made advances in her exercises.



[note: ok, this entry is continued on the day after due to the more pressing needs of going back to the hometown. so, continuity might be a bit off and lazydaisy, didn't go to that flora parade. got discouraged to see the hot weather and the many people in the live tv]



ok, back to alyssa. so, in the end, i was only allowed to guide her to cross the road without holding her hands, and then was shooed home and only remotely supervise her going up the stairs of the shop lots from far, among the diners happily munching their dinner alfresco style in the ground floor restaurant. that's one big leap of faith for a father of five in this dangerous, dangerous world that we're living nowadays.



the thing is, i thought that i only have to experience this feeling of already losing her when she is getting married or at least during her secondary school when she would be ashamed to be seen to be pampered among her teenager friends. but at five-year old? definitely didn't think it was coming this soon.